Winnipeg - Winnipeg will be home to a unique concept in the hospitality industry, as Canad Inns and the Health Sciences Centre today announced a hotel to be built at the hospital site. Leo Ledohowski, President & CEO of Canad Inns, along with Dr. Brian Postl, President & CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) made the announcement today at the Health Sciences Centre.

“Attaching a hotel to a major health care facility, I believe, is the first of it’s kind in Canada,” said Leo Ledohowski. “Canad Inns is pleased to be part of this exciting opportunity adding to our growing network of private/public sector partnerships.”

The Canad facility will be located adjacent to the new Siemen’s Institute for Advanced Medicine (SIAM) research centre. The facility will consist of a combination of approximately 160 to 200 guest rooms, executive rooms and suites, along with a variety of food and beverage concepts, banquet, meeting and convention spaces and other guest services.

“At the WRHA we are always looking for innovative opportunities to better meet the health care needs of Manitobans,” said Postl. “The Canad facility will support families in staying close to hospitalized relatives as well as provide first-class services to staff working on our campus as well as the many visiting physicians, scientists and other health care professionals.”

Canad Inns was the successful respondent to a competitive Request For Proposals process to solicit concepts for accommodation on the Health Sciences Centre campus.

The facility will be a Canad-Certified four-star designation, offering the finest in guest services and incorporating the latest in energy efficient and environmentally friendly building practices.

Detailed building plans are expected to be finalized over the next few months.

Canad Inns is Manitoba’s largest hotel chain with seven hotels in Winnipeg, one in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, one in Brandon, Manitoba and one currently under construction in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Canad Inns is one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, reaching Platinum status, one of only 31 companies across Canada to receive this prestigious honour.

Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg is the largest health care referral teaching and research centre serving residents of Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Nunavut. Located on 32 acres of land in central Winnipeg, Health Sciences Centre is the designated Trauma Centre for Manitoba and the centre for neurosurgery, transplants and most hospital-based pediatric care for our Province and surrounding regions.

Construction of a new Canad Inns hotel attached to Health Sciences Centre will commence next spring -- the only hotel in Canada on hospital property, says hotel magnate Leo Ledohowski.

"Attaching a hotel to a major health-care facility, I believe, is the first of it's kind in Canada," the president and CEO of Canad Corp. told reporters yesterday. "I think some of the services we're adding will make it easier for patients and families of patients."

The city's burgeoning BioMed City will also likely provide the hotel with a steady stream of guests when it opens in 2008, Ledohowski added.

PRIVATE MONEY

As first reported in the Sun last Saturday, the newest four-star Canad Inns hotel will be built entirely with private money.

Being touted as a private-public partnership between government and the hotel chain, the federal and provincial governments are not contributing any money but gave the thumbs up for it to be built on public land.

"There is no (government) contribution in the sense of a subsidy," said Ledohowski, adding he was the successful respondent after Health Sciences Centre put out a public request for proposals last year.

"We won on a competitive basis and we're leasing the land from the facility for 99 years at a competitive rate. In fact, we're front-ending a considerable amount of the rent to help out with the lab next door."

The newest Canad Inns hotel, located on William Avenue next to the Siemen's Institute for Advanced Medicine research centre, will include up to 200 guest rooms on 20 floors and offer two full floors of restaurants and another two floors for conventions and meeting rooms.

Unlike most other hotels in the chain, the new facility will not offer gaming or a nightclub.

Vic Toews, senior cabinet minister for Manitoba, said Canad Inns is a "shining example" of homegrown Canadian business excellence.

"This new Canad Inns project attached to the Health Sciences Centre represents the marriage of two Manitoba institutions that we are all very proud of," said Toews, who attended yesterday's news conference.

Industry Minister Jim Rondeau called the hotel-hospital combination a win-win project for all Manitobans.

"This is government, industry, and health care working together to make sure we have the best service delivery and best care for our patients," he said.

The newest hotel is the sixth private-public partnership for Ledohowski's chain.

Canad Inns previously won competitive bids to build hotels next to the Club Regent casino in Winnipeg, the Keystone Centre in Brandon and is currently building one next to the Alerus Centre in Grand Forks.

Under the same private-public partnership framework, the chain has a curling rink in Portage la Prairie and the Tavern United bar and grill next to the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

its the main hospital for the province were plp from up north or rural comunities are sent to when they're local facilities are unable to sever there needs like cancer dialisis surgery ect ect ect so there needs to be a place for family to stay ect

The four-star, $25-million hotel is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada on a hospital campus. It was unveiled at a splashy press conference in July.

But West Alexander residents, especially those on Elgin Avenue, say the hotel will dominate the neighbourhood, cast a shadow on nearby homes and increase traffic, noise and possibly drunken troublemakers. They've appealed a series of zoning tweaks the hotel requires before construction begins next spring.

. . .

HEALTH SCIENCE CENTRE PARKADE AND HOTEL

The proposal: The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority wants to build a six-storey parkade able to hold 1,100 cars near HSC. The parkade would replace some vacant lots, three surface parking lots and several homes now located west of Tecumseh Street at Notre Dame Avenue.

Meanwhile, HSC has partnered with Canad Inns to build a 19-storey hotel on William Avenue.

The problem: Residents of West Alexander are bucking both projects, saying they're too big for the neighbourhood and will cause traffic jams. The process: Residents have appealed council's approval of both projects. Thursday's meeting represents one of their last-ditch attempts to stall the construction.

This is not only the largest medical centre, actually made up of several hospitals clustered together, but it also the future of Biomed city. This area is expected to draw many top medical research companies to the area, thus requiring for support services such as a hotel.

As with everything else, as the demand reaches a critical level, supply is soon to follow. I expect to see other forms of investment in the HSC area to follow. It is building momentum and the property values in the area are VERY low.

They're still building shit like this in 2007? I'm sorry, but what an ugly building.

And I doubt it'll look much different from the renderings. That first picture looks pretty detailed to be a "height concept". And unless its a really shitty architecture firm, it is very unusual for them to release renderings that look nothing like the final product. Height concepts would usually be done with a simple plain white cube (if they're done at all)